Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Towards Covid-19 in Iran: A Population-Based Study

Background and aims: the novel coronavirus (covid-19) epidemic has far been the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. protective measures are still one of the most effective methods for controlling covid-19. practicing hygiene and control measures are largely influenced by knowledge and attitude towards covid-19. this study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of iranians towards covid-19 as well as the demographic factors related to it in april and may, 2020. methods: the study population in this cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical, and web-based study included 3736 iranian individuals who were collected via convenience sampling method. a validated iranian knowledge, attitude, and practices (kap) questionnaire about covid-19 was used for collecting the required data. ordinal multivariate generalized estimating equations (gees) were applied to analyze data. results: the majority of participants (88.1%) had considerable knowledge, the right attitude (91%), and good practices (90.3%). in the multivariate models, factors related to greater knowledge were age > 20 years (p < 0.001), living in the urban area (p = 0.030), holding a master’s or doctoral degree (p = 0.044), and a moderate financial status (p = 0.001). females displayed mor positive attitude (p = 0.035). variables related to more favorable practices were age > 20 years (p < 0.001), and having a good (p = 0.003) or moderate (p = 0.038) financial status. conclusion: it was concluded that the participants had good knowledge and a positive attitude, as well as adopted sound practices regarding covid-19. however, this conclusion might not have been generalizable to entire iranian community; therefore, it was recommended that preventive measures against covid-19 should receive continued monitoring and emphasis.